Justin Bieber has made it into my best tracks of the week (not an April Fool’s joke). Meanwhile, the new Nigo/Pharrell/Gunna song slaps harder than Will Smith at the Oscars. Plus, fantastic new tracks from Chance the Rapper, Ghum and The Derevolutions.
THE BEST:
‘Functional Addict’ – Nigo ft. Pharrell & Gunna
This beat is insane. PUT A STRAIGHTJACKET ON IT! It shouldn’t slap considering the lack of kick drums and 6/8 time signature, and yet
it slaps harder than any beat I've heard this year. Japanese producer Nigo must have had a hand crafting
it as he is credited on the track, however you can clearly hear that is
largely the work of Pharrell just by the textures. How is Pharrell producing
beats this innovative and fresh so late into his career?
‘Child of God’ – Chance the Rapper
The Big Day was a big dud, but Chance can definitely
still rap. There are no corny lines here or annoying inflections. In fact, he
dedicates most of it to just doing what he does best, which is delivering crazily
creative rhymes like ‘manhandled’ and ‘panhandle’. Like ‘delicatessen’
and ‘delicate lessons’. It’s enough to overlook all the God stuff.
‘Some People’ – Ghum
The scuttling drum rhythm combined with the syncopated bass guitar
won me over straight away. It’s so intense! The London post-punk band remind me
of Savages a bit in their style. Apparently, the band met through a Gumtree ad,
which is what inspired the name ‘Ghum’.
‘Revive It’ – The Derevolutions
Boston band, The Derevolutions, have revived their old hit
song ‘Bad King Kong’ and remixed it into something equally creative and catchy. I
don’t know what they’ve done to that guitar to make it sound like that, but I
absolutely love what I’m hearing. It’s wild
and weirdly infectious.
‘Up At Night’ – Kehlani ft. Justin Bieber
I told you it wasn’t an April Fool’s joke! Admittedly, the
reason this song has made it into my best tracks of the week isn’t so much because of
Justin Bieber, but the sensual vocals from Kehlani and groovy bassline. They
are what make this the seductive r&b babymaker that it is, although Justin’s
contribution certainly isn’t bad (he does a much better job of sounding
seductive than he did on ‘Yummy’).
THE WORST:
‘Elon Musk’ – DDG ft. Gunna
I misread the song as ‘DDG’ and the artist as ‘Elon Musk’, and was sorely disappointed when Elon Musk didn't turn up for a rap verse.